Pearce Hire is proud to announce its first time sponsorship of the 2014 Technical Theatre Awards. The Technical Theatre Awards were launched in 2013 as a way of formally recognising the outstanding achievements and dedication of the backstage ‘unsung heroes’ of the technical theatre industry. The awards are presented annually at the PLASA London exhibition at ExCel each October. The nominees are shortlisted from individuals elected by their industry peers at the beginning of the year, and then voting conducted between June and September decides the final recipient of each award.

This year there are a total of 17 awards and Pearce Hire is sponsoring the ‘Outstanding Achievement in Stage Crew’ award. This award highlights an individual within any role of the Stage Department, who is renowned for their dedication and effort to this discipline and respected amongst the technical theatre community.

Pearce Hire view these awards as a way to publically recognise the technical expertise that is required backstage to ensure an excellent standard of production takes to the stage – be it on the West End stage or in a local theatre.

‘The Stage Crew award seemed to provide the perfect synergy with what we do at Pearce Hire as well as our main customer base’ observes Shaun Pearce, MD Pearce Hire. ‘After all, the stage crew are the life-blood of our industry’, he continues. ‘We have many designers, operators and lots of kit but with no crew to unload it, rig it, work it and then load it all back to prep for the next show, where would the industry be?’

Alongside their sponsorship of the Technical Theatre Awards and recognising excellence in stagecraft, Pearce Hire has a well-established intern/work experience programme at their HQ in Peterborough, working with their local performing arts and FE college to nurture the next generation of technical talent and stage crew for the industry.

The shortlist of nominees for this year’s ‘Outstanding Achievement in Stage Crew’ are:

Sid Taylor – who has been working in theatre since 1984 and has been with the Northern Ballet since 2005. He is passionate about keeping old stagecraft techniques alive and passing on his considerable knowledge to the next generation.

Lincoln Smith – currently working as a chargehand technician at the Harold Pinter Theatre, he revels in being a facilitator behind the scenes.

William ‘Boo’ Scott – who has worked at the Grand Opera House, Belfast for the past 22 years.

Online voting is via the Technical Theatre Awards website until midnight on Tuesday 30th September 2014 - http://www.technicaltheatreawards.com/voting/. The Technical Theatre Awards will be presented on the TheatreStage (R40) at PLASA London, ExCel, on Tuesday 7th October 2014.

‘This award will hopefully inspire all crew to reach for higher goals and technical excellence, and be rewarded with the recognition that they deserve’ concludes Shaun Pearce.